Wales centre Jamie Roberts backs rugby sevens' 2016 Olympics bid

Jamie Roberts, the Wales centre who was named as the British and Irish Lions
player of the series against South Africa, today backed the International
Rugby Board’s bid to have sevens included in the Olympics.

International Olympic Committee will vote tomorrow in Copenhagen on whether to ratify the recommendation of its Executive Board that sevens and golf should become Olympic sports from the 2016 games in Rio.

A simple majority is required for sevens to be included and Roberts believes it would be a major asset for future Olympics.

“Sevens rugby is exciting to watch and thrilling to play in,” said Roberts, who has represented reigning world champions Wales in the IRB world series.

“Sevens tournaments are fantastic arenas for developing playing skills and achieving excellent levels of fitness.

“You only have to look at how well the Sevens circuit around the world is already supported to realise it would be a phenomenal success at the Olympics.” Wales and Lions coach Warren Gatland also backed the IRB’s bid.

“International Sevens rugby already delivers an extremely competitive international environment within which talent comes to the fore,” said Gatland. “I believe the time is now right for the IOC to vote for Rugby Sevens to be included in the Olympic Games.”

As part of its final push, the IRB is urging the global rugby family to get behind the campaign and register its support in a poll running on online Olympic publication Inside the Games.

The results of the poll will be published on Thursday.

IRB chief executive Mike Miller said the ramifications for rugby would be enormous if sevens gained inclusion – four years after it was rejected for the 2012 London Games.

“I don’t think people realise yet how big this could be for rugby,”

Miller said. “This is right up there with the inception of the Rugby World Cup and the game going open.

“We currently have 116 members of the IRB, but there are 205 nations involved in the Olympics and I have already been approached by a number of countries who have said that if Sevens is included, they will be interested in investing in rugby.

“In countries like Russia, China, the USA – big markets – it would make a huge difference. For instance in Russia they are only allowed to have Olympic sports on the schools curriculum.

“It would also lead to many millions of pounds being invested in the game across the world and many extra facilities being made available. It would have a huge impact in speeding up the growth of the game around the world.”